Hanoi (VNA) – When Pham Sy Liem, former deputy minister of construction, recommendedthat the Government hire private construction inspection services, he met with mixed opinions from experts.

At a conference onconstruction hosted by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in mid-December,Liem said that employing private construction inspection services would helpreduce the number of people on the State payroll and tighten buildingmanagement.

He told Thanh Nien (YoungPeople) newspaper that the State inspection agencies had poorly performed theirfunctions of ensuring compliance, especially when several cases of constructionlaw violations had been discovered.

In Binh Chanh district ofHCM City, for example, illegal residential construction on farming land hadbeen underway for a long time before functional forces handled it.

According to Liem,governmental construction inspection does not exist in many countries,including the US. Evaluating building quality is therefore carried out byprivate service providers.

Liem said that Vietnamcould adopt this model by piloting it in some districts of Hanoi and HCM City.If the services proved efficient, the model could be duplicated in otherprovinces, he said.

“The current Stateconstruction inspections can be converted into companies providing services ofinspecting and evaluating construction works. The government then only needs tomaintain a small agency to make inspection plans before starting any project,” he added.

The newspaper also reportedthat a real estate company’s leader expressed support for the proposal.

According to him, manypublic construction inspectors are not specialised in construction, so theycannot analyse and diagnose problems like a professional engineer would.

Meanwhile, some expertsquestioned Liem’s opinion.

Nguyen Quoc Hiep, Presidentof the Vietnam Association of Construction Contractors, recommended rearrangingthe public construction inspections, giving control to local authorities.Moreover, he said that it was impossible to depend totally on outsourcedinspection services as the Government also needed to manage the evaluation.

Tran Viet Trung, deputydirector of the Hanoi Department of Construction, said that Liêm’ssuggestion called for further discussion.

“It is essential to analysecarefully Vietnam’s condition before adopting the foreign countries’model,” said Trung.

Pham Gia Yen, former chiefinspector at the Ministry of Construction, agreed that private constructioninspection services could provide tighter management, similar to the role ofaudit firms in the financial sector. However, as inspectors enforce the law, hesaid the Government should provide proper mechanisms on services employment.

Architect Ngo Viet Nam Sơn,on the other hand, suggested the Government tighten construction management,beginning with the licensing process.

He said illegalconstruction in Vietnam is not completely addressed as constructors canpay fines to maintain their works. Meanwhile, in other countries, buildingswithout any permits will be demolished by functional forces.

“The removal of Stateconstruction inspection could worsen the problem. Therefore, firmer managementpolicies should be adopted by related agencies, including the leaders ofdepartments of construction and local authorities for the stricter lawenforcement,” he said.-VNA